We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again now: BlackBerry Blend is the best productivity booster, and with the latest update, BlackBerry Blend 1.2, navigating and interacting with your BlackBerry device messages and content has never been easier.

Think about it for a second – How much more work could you complete by bringing the power of your BlackBerry to your computer and tablets?

What’s New with BlackBerry Blend 1.2

Available on PCs and tablets running Mac, Windows, iOS and Android, BlackBerry Blend 1.2 will take your productivity to the next level with these new features:

BlackBerry Blend dashboard & application navigation, updated user interface redesign: The BlackBerry Blend Dashboard has been newly designed based on customer feedback. You can now access the apps, settings, and help in the left navigation pane. You can move between apps from anywhere within BlackBerry Blend, so you can quickly and easily accomplish more.

Instant replies from BlackBerry Blend notifications: Notifications of BBM and text messages from any app let you respond or go to the BlackBerry Hub with a single touch. When receiving notifications, you can reply directly by clicking on the instant preview without having to go to the BlackBerry Blend dashboard. This allows you to quickly respond and get back to what you were doing without missing a step.

Centralized File Transfer Manager for file uploads and downloads: View the progress of a file transfer, cancel a transfer, and view previous transfers from the File Transfer Manager.

Spell Check within BlackBerry Blend: BlackBerry Blend now includes spellcheck so you can see and correct misspelled words before sending your messages.

Portrait Mode for tablets: Pick the best view for your content with the introduction of portrait mode for tablets.

Check out these “How to Videos” to learn more about BlackBerry Blend 1.2.

There you go, you’re all set to take your world on. May the power of BlackBerry Blend 1.2 be with you.

]]>http://blogs.blackberry.com/2015/07/blend-like-a-boss-with-the-blackberry-blend-1-2-update/feed/1signal-product-lockup-BBM(1)melmassonsignal-product-lockup-BBM(1)16x10_Blend1.2_DashBoard_ENGRoundup: Media and Users Laud BlackBerry Blend for Security, Mobility and Productivityhttp://blogs.blackberry.com/2014/11/roundup-media-and-users-laud-blackberry-blend-for-security-mobility-and-productivity/
http://blogs.blackberry.com/2014/11/roundup-media-and-users-laud-blackberry-blend-for-security-mobility-and-productivity/#respondThu, 06 Nov 2014 20:41:11 +0000http://blogs.blackberry.com/2014/11/roundup-media-and-users-laud-blackberry-blend-for-security-mobility-and-productivity/Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog: People have been raving about the BlackBerry Passport since the device launched in September. The keyboard…]]>

But one of the best features introduced in the Passport is BlackBerry Blend, software that allows you to receive and respond to all of your messages, emails, texts and files on any device, anytime and anywhere you have Internet access.

BlackBerry Blend enhances the productivity of today’s professional by accommodating a pair of key trends. First, workers like to use the best tool for the job. If you’re trying to read a bunch of documents and answer dozens of e-mails, you might be more productive on a laptop or tablet. But it can be frustrating and time consuming to physically transfer files from your BlackBerry smartphone to your PC or tablet. Blend lets you avoid that, which…

To use BlackBerry Blend you’ll need to install BlackBerry Blend on your computer or tablet. Using either your computer or tablet, visit http://blackberry.com/blend and follow the instructions to download and install BlackBerry Blend. BlackBerry Blend is preloaded with BlackBerry 10 OS version 10.3 so the next step is setting up Blend so your device and computer or tablet can communicate with each other.

Step 3 – Set up and use BlackBerry Blend

To communicate with your device you need to complete a one-time pairing and update the BlackBerry Blend app on your device. Complete the following steps to complete this quick and easy process:

On your computer or tablet, open BlackBerry Blend

You’ll be guided through the BlackBerry Blend update the first time you launch it using BlackBerry World

Do one of the following on your device

If your device is connected to your computer using a USB cable, click USB Cable Connection

If your computer or tablet is connected to a Wi-Fi network or the mobile network, click Wireless Network Connection

After a connection is made, verify that the passkey on your device matches the passkey on your computer or tablet

If your device is password protected, type your password

Optionally, click Remain signed in if you do not want to enter your password again when connecting to BlackBerry Blend

After you complete the one-time pairing process you are ready to Blend! Just tap any of the following items to start interacting with data stored on your smartphone.

Note: Work Browser only appears on devices associated with BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10.

Step 4 – Frequently asked questions

Can I use BlackBerry Blend with multiple devices on the same computer or tablet?

If you share a computer or tablet in your household, have no worries, everyone can use BlackBerry Blend!

All you need to do is complete the one-time pairing process using each device and you can sign in to each device by logging in to BlackBerry Blend using the device’s BlackBerry ID.

How do I turn off notifications?

By default notifications appear on your computer or tablet whenever you receive a new message or notification. To turn this feature off (or on) open BlackBerry Blend on your computer or tablet, and then click or tap the Settings icon in the top-right corner. Within this Quick Settings menu, click Notifications On, or Off.

How do I copy files between my device and computer or tablet?

To copy files back and forth click or tap File Manager within BlackBerry Blend, browse to the folder you’d like to manage, and then drag files to, or from the folder.

Can I browse the web using my device’s mobile network connection using BlackBerry Blend?

If you use a BlackBerry 10 device that is associated with BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 you can use the Work Browser to access your company’s intranet in addition to public websites.

If you’d like to learn more about using the Work Browser within BlackBerry Blend contact your BlackBerry Enterprise Service Administrator.

Can I prevent BlackBerry Blend from using my mobile network connection?

Absolutely! Using your BlackBerry 10 device, go to Settings followed by Device Connections. Within this screen turn off Use Mobile Network to force BlackBerry Blend to use only a Wi-Fi or USB connection.

Can I turn off BlackBerry Blend?

If desired, you can optionally turn off BlackBerry Blend. Using your BlackBerry 10 device, go to Settings followed by Device Connections. Within this screen turn off Allow Connections.

Going one step further you can turn BlackBerry Blend on or off through the BlackBerry 10 Quick Settings menu. Using your device, go to Settings followed by Quick Settings, and then select the check the box next to BlackBerry Blend.

Where can I learn more about BlackBerry Blend and get help if I’m stuck?

Have you ever wondered how to update your BlackBerry® smartphone while using a Mac®? How about removing an application that you do not use anymore? The Mac version of BlackBerry® Desktop Software is the perfect solution for that!

You can download the software quickly and easily at the BlackBerry Desktop Software website. After installing the software and following these steps, you’ll be able to update your BlackBerry to the latest device software.

In case you haven’t heard the news, the first update to our BlackBerry® Desktop Software designed for the Mac OS platform is now available. The last two weeks since the release of BlackBerry Desktop Software v1.0 have been very exciting and we received lots of great feedback. It was also very exciting to hear how great the product works for so many of you. The v.1.0.1 update is designed to provide enhancements to data and music sync and is just the first in a series of planned updates. We value your feedback and comments very much so please keep them coming!

Update: BlackBerry® Desktop Software for the Mac OS platform is now available!

BlackBerry® Desktop Software is now compatible with the Mac OS platform, and the upcoming release is just around the corner. We’d like to take this opportunity to share some details about the key features included in v1.0. We know many of you are waiting anxiously for the product to be released, and the wait is almost over! Before I dive into the details, I wanted to thank you all for the great comments and feedback you left on my initial post announcing this upcoming release of BlackBerry Desktop Software. Knowing how anticipated the product is was the best motivation the team could have. Read on for a detailed walk-through of the key product features.

The Welcome Sheet

Once BlackBerry Desktop Software is installed and connected to a BlackBerry® smartphone via USB, users will be presented with what we call the Welcome Sheet. The idea behind the Welcome Sheet is to ensure users can customize important settings defining their experience with the BlackBerry Desktop Software going forward. Anything defined here on the Welcome Sheet can of course be changed later on via various options (also covered in this post).

One important feature I’d like to spend some time talking about is the option to select whether a BlackBerry smartphone syncs with one or multiple computers, a new feature to BlackBerry Desktop Software. Want to sync with one computer at home and another at work? Change the setting to “Safer Sync” and you’re all set. Your sync times will increase (how much depends on the amount of data stored on the smartphone), but this feature will help keep data on your Mac and BlackBerry smartphone in harmony.

Summary Screen and Device Options

The Summary Screen provides a quick overview of the information about the connected BlackBerry smartphone. The information provided about the last sync and backup will help users make sure their smartphone is backed up and synced regularly if they opt against using the automatic options. Speaking of which, to configure some of the more advanced settings in BlackBerry Desktop Software, the Device Options menu button is displayed prominently on the Summary Screen.

Two additional options in the Device Options menu over what is displayed on the Welcome Sheet are the ability to sync automatically when the BlackBerry smartphone is connected and to check for software updates.

Within the Device Options menu, users can choose whether their BlackBerry smartphone should be backed-up automatically and what data should be included in the backup file. Excluding messages or information data (that may be stored on the Mac already) can significantly decrease the time it takes to back up the BlackBerry smartphone.

The media options provided under the Device Options menu are mostly what is displayed on the Welcome Sheet, but the option to “Delete all music…” requires a bit of attention. We added this feature to provide users with an easy way to remove the tunes transferred using the BlackBerry Desktop Software; it’s a great way to keep your music selection fresh day to day! Any music transferred manually to the smartphone will remain intact

Synchronizing

Because synchronization is one of the most important features in this release of BlackBerry Desktop Software, our focus was on making it solid with an intuitive set up. We wanted to ensure users have all the key options and information when setting up their sync preferences, while at the same time keeping the interface clean and simple. For this reason, all information categories are listed on the left, and the right panel reflects the settings for each category. The alternative of having everything on the same page and listed sequentially seemed a bit cluttered to us.

Users can sync their BlackBerry smartphone with the iCal application, Address Book, Apple Mail (for notes) and any other software that can talk to Apple’s Sync Services. For example, to sync with Microsoft® Entourage users simply need to check the option to sync with Sync Services in Entourage preferences.

Updating Device Software

As with Windows® BlackBerry Desktop Software v4.7+, users won’t need to install anything on their computer to update their BlackBerry device software. Every time the BlackBerry smartphone is connected, BlackBerry Desktop Software will automatically check for updates. Users will see a notification when a new update is available:

We’ve learned a couple of lessons from the years of experience with our version of BlackBerry Desktop Software for Windows®, and as I mentioned previously, we focused on making the update experience as simple as possible. Keeping the update process lean on extraneous options and features also ensures we can focus on quality. All in all, BlackBerry smartphone users will still have an option to specify whether their data should be backed-up (including third-party applications) and encrypted, but that is as far as the options go. Once the update options are selected, it’s simply a matter of hitting the “Start Update” button and grabbing a cup of coffee while the BlackBerry Desktop Software takes care of business.

Installing and Removing Applications

With the number of applications for BlackBerry smartphones growing by the day, it is important to ensure users can easily install or remove BlackBerry optional applications like support for other languages or any third-party applications they may have downloaded in the past and don’t use anymore. Simply clear the check box to remove previously installed applications; the “+” sign is for adding new applications.

Back Up and Restore

When backing up data, users have the option for a full or a partial backup and also the ability to encrypt their backup file. An important item I’d like to mention for those who may be familiar with the Windows® BlackBerry Desktop Software is that backup files now have a new extension, .bbb, which stands for BlackBerry Backup file of course! The current version of BlackBerry Desktop Software stores BlackBerry data in an .ipd file and the contents of on-board memory in a .cab file; while there are benefits to this approach, our experience is showing that keeping all information in one place provides a more convenient overall experience.

While the new/upcoming version of BlackBerry Desktop Software will store backup files in the new format, users will still be able to restore any .ipd files made from previous backups using the current version of BlackBerry Desktop Software.

BlackBerry Desktop Software is very focused on providing the key functionality that we know Mac users have been waiting for. If you haven’t yet, make sure you sign up to be notified when this product is released on www.blackberry.com/mac. Stay tuned for another overview on some other cool features I did not have a chance to touch on here shortly after we release.

Comment away and let me know what you think about what you’ve seen so far!

Mac and Mac OS are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

]]>http://blogs.blackberry.com/2009/09/blackberry-desktop-software-a-closer-look-at-the-mac-os-version/feed/479andreyfeld1macdm1macdm1macdm2macdm3macdm4macdm5macdm6macdm7macdm8macdm9macdm10macdm11BlackBerry Desktop Software: Coming Soon to a Mac Near You!http://blogs.blackberry.com/2009/07/blackberry-desktop-software-coming-soon-to-a-mac-near-you/
http://blogs.blackberry.com/2009/07/blackberry-desktop-software-coming-soon-to-a-mac-near-you/#commentsMon, 20 Jul 2009 21:15:54 +0000http://blogs.blackberry.com/2009/07/blackberry-desktop-software-coming-soon-to-a-mac-near-you// Read More]]>Many of you commented on my “Updating Your BlackBerry Device Software” post back in April saying "…this is great! But what about Mac?” I could not respond to those comments at the time, but I’m happy to say there’s some exciting news we can share with you. We have all been hard at work here for a while now, and you may have noticed some Mac support with the preview version of BlackBerry® Media Sync for Mac released back in December. Read on to get the first inside scoop on BlackBerry® Desktop Software that will be coming to Mac in September, and get a first glimpse at a few product screenshots.

Here are some key features the initial release will include:

Sync your iTunes® playlists, calendars, contacts, notes and tasks

Add/Remove applications

Update your device when new software becomes available

Backup and restore your device data with such features like automatically scheduled backups and optional encryption (security is #1 as always… ;))

Manage multiple devices

And it will support Mac® OS 10.5.5 and above.

Make sure to check out www.blackberry.com/mac and sign up to get notified when the software is available, and stay tuned for more posts from me here on Inside BlackBerry as we get closer to the release date.

As promised, here are some screenshots (click to enlarge) – let me know what you think!